Green Light. Red Line.

Travel Tuesday: Namibia?

Namibia is home to the Hoba Meteorite, the largest known single meteorite on Earth. It weighs over 50 tons and is composed mainly of iron and nickel. Discovered in 1920, the meteorite is estimated to have fallen to Earth around 80,000 years ago. ?

GDP $12.35 billion?

Biggest Export Diamonds?

Biggest Trading Partners South Africa, Botswana, China, Zambia, Belgium?

Political System Semi-presidential representative democratic republic. The President is both the head of state and the head of government, and the political system includes a multi-party system.?

National Animal The Oryx?

Next Election November 27?

Green Light. Red Line.

Headlines are being dominated by the Biden Administration’s decision to give Kyiv the green light to fire long-range missiles supplied by the US into Russia. The decision marks a departure from Washington’s previous foreign policy decision which prohibited the use of US supplied weapons in Russian territory, a position which many NATO countries still hold.

The change of tact will enable Ukrainian forces to use weapons such as the ATACMS to target positions as far as 300km into Russia. It also effectively enables Ukrainian troops to use US weapon systems to defend the small area of Russian territory that it controls – having taken it in August.

Putin has indicated that Biden’s decision crosses a red line for Moscow, having maintained earlier this year that it would be tantamount to NATOs’ "direct participation" in the conflict.

According to the White House, the change of policy comes in response to North Korean involvement in Ukraine. In October, South Korea issued a statement indicating that 1,500 North Korean special forces personnel have been sent to Russia. Some Western Officials now believe that as many as 100,000 could be sent to the conflict.

With Russia loosing as many as 1,000 casualties a day, and recruiting some 30,000 a month, Moscow is looking for ways to bolster numbers without calling a special draft – something which could be politically damaging. The bilateral cooperation follows Putin and Kim Jong Un signing a ‘strategic agreement’ in an effort to bring Russia and North Korea closer both geopolitically and militarily last year. The pact provided “the provision of mutual assistance in the event of aggression against one of the parties to this agreement and while it was unclear exactly what constitutes ‘assistance’, the recent deployment of troops demonstrates the significance of the pact.

All eyes are now on Moscow to see the nature of Putin’s response.

?

G20

World Leaders reconvene in Rio de Janeiro today for the second and final day of the G20 Summit.

With G20 Member States collectively representing around 85% of the global GDP, 75% of the global trade, and around two-thirds of the world population, the world’s media will be keeping a close eye on any developments from Rio.

Rio marks the first Summit since the African Union joined the group during the 2023 New Delhi Meeting and is the first time that it is officially represented.

The group has stated that the central focus of Rio is threefold: i) Promoting social inclusion and combating hunger ii) Advancing energy transition and sustainable development across social, economic environmental dimensions, and iii) Reforming global governance institutions. No mean feat.

The opening day was marked by members of the international community discussing issues such as the conflict in Ukraine, fragility across the Middle East and policies to address climate change.

Headlines are also covering the meeting between Starmer and Xi, where the PM stated that "We want our relations to be consistent, durable, respectful, as we have agreed, avoid surprises where possible." Xi replied stating that "China and the UK have broad space for co-operation across various domains, including trade, investment, clean energy, financial services, healthcare and improving our peoples' well-being."

However, when Starmer brought up concerns around issues involving Taiwan, Hong Kong and human rights, British journalists were reportedly removed from the room by Chinese officials.

?

Putin Absent from G20

With Putin potentially facing the Brazilian courts implementing the ICC’s arrest warrant, Russia is being represented by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov. This of course follows the controversy last year when Lula said that the Russian President "can attend next year's G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro without fear” and that "if I'm Brazil's president, and if he comes to Brazil, there's no reason he'll be arrested". However, given that this would be for the Brazilian courts – and not for Lula – to decide, Putin remains in Russia.

The meeting of course comes at a time of heightened geopolitical tensions across the international community with the conflict in Ukraine being a key issue raised by many during their opening addresses.

For example, during Kier Starmer’s address, the PM said that “Finally, it is important in this room that we address Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine. Tomorrow marks the 1,000th day of their invasion of a peaceful, sovereign state. And they have inflicted damage on the wider world, including on food and energy security. So we call, again, for a just and durable peace, consistent with the UN Charter.”

?

?